To Meat or Not to Meat

Veronica Isidron

Issue date: 2/9/10 Section: Current Affairs

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Media Credit: www.adaptt.org Gary Yourofsky.

Last week, the large lecture room at the Shepard Broad Law Center was filled with students and faculty who are vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters, all there to hear a lecture from animal rights activist, Gary Yourofsky.

During the lecture came a four minute video, much of it filmed by Yourofsky himself. The audience was warned that the images would be graphic. With the anticipation that many would look away, Yourofsky told the audience to ask themselves, "If it's not good enough for your eyes, why is it good enough for your stomach?"

The video started with little, pink baby pigs being thrown onto the ground. As they hit the ground, many struggled to move around but there was no escape from the torture that would eventually result in death. Cows, pigs and sheep suspended upside down by chains, while workers sliced body after body and the blood poured out of them onto the floor. A pig fell to the ground and was beaten to death. A dolphin struggled to stay alive while chained to a truck. Beaks cut, horns snapped, genitalia sliced and all while the animals were conscious. These were just some of the images in the video. These animals were tortured and left to suffer until their last breath. Soon after that, their meat is sold and later served on a plate for people to eat.

"I was deeply disturbed and moved by the video that was showed. It's amazing how much we take for granted the tremendous amount of suffering animals experience just to satisfy human's insatiable desires for meat and other product derived from them," said George Alvarado, junior business major, shortly after viewing the video

Several people in the audience turned their eyes from the video. Many placed their hands over their mouths. The question remains, will the audience now hold their hands over their mouths when it comes to being served food derived from animals?

At the lecture students were told being a consumer of meat and food derived from animals, not only adds to the abuse and killing of animals, but also can be bad for your health. Yourofsky related animal consumption to diseases such as heart disease and cancer, as well as cases of osteoporosis due to the body needing calcium from your bones to regulate the acidity from the absorption of meat. Yourofsky explained that eating meat is a learned behavior and with time becomes an addiction. Realizing that giving up meat can be very difficult for people, Yourofsky provided the audience with many alternative food options, showing pictures of burgers, ribs, chicken, turkey and bacon made without any animal flesh. Yourofsky suggested that the effect of changing one's diet to not include food derived from animals would help with maintaining a healthy body and contribute to stop the massacre of animals.

Alvarado commented on the lecture by saying, "I was impressed with Gary's passion and determination for expressing his message of intolerance for animal cruelty of any kind." Five days after the lecture, Alvarado had not forgotten the facts or the visuals that were presented to him that day. He states, "My life has changed dramatically since seeing Gary Yourofsky's presentation. I can no longer look at meat the same way nor have the desire to consume meat as a result of all the information that I took in. I feel that changing my eating habits to not eat meat or any meat whatsoever is a good beginning to ending animal cruelty."

For more information you may visit Gary Yourofsky's Web site.

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